


research, huh

by clizzyhours



Category: Shadowhunters, Shadowhunters TV
Genre: 3.20, F/F, Heline, Kind of canon?, Missing Scene, Pining, Teasing, elaboration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 01:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19140904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clizzyhours/pseuds/clizzyhours
Summary: Helen and Aline and the battle of wits, or should we say: flirting?





	research, huh

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much and pls enjoy,

The library is enormous and vast like a neverending dream. Shiny wooden bookcases with endless rows of alphabetized books. A giant window with rich burgundy curtains draping down, obscuring the beautiful view of Idris’s opulent buildings and home of Shadowhunters.

Intricate tables and chairs are throughout the spacious room with an oversized chandelier hanging above, candles sitting non-precariously.

One woman with blonde hair is hunched over a table, carefully flipping through pages of a large book. A candle wick is nearby providing a bit of light.

From the other end of the room, the great wooden doors with rich details and unique concepts of Shadowhunter art, swing open.

“Shadowhunters really have a thing for gothic romance, hmm?” Aline says, striding into the library with full-confidence.

She spies her favorite blonde after all.

Helen jolts up, her hand immediately grabbing the weapon secured in her thigh-holster.

“Tense, huh?” She jokes, gazing at Helen with warm eyes.

Her ever-prepared Shadowhunter, indeed.

“It never hurts to be prepared,” Helen murmurs as she adjusts to Aline’s joviality, glancing back. She lessens the tightened grip around her weapon, her body easing in Aline’s familiar and safe presence.

“Sometimes being too prepared is overkill,” Aline quips, making her way over to Helen’s table and plopping herself down in a chair, arms spread out against the surface.

She’s know this from experience - her mother is Jia Penhallow and it’s something she will never escape.

“And this is coming from Consul Penhallow’s daughter?” Helen says.

Oh Helen, she thinks. If only you knew.

“My mother thinks a lot of things, but I think Shadowhunters should learn to relax more,” she says, lips curving into an amused smile.

Helen looks at Aline again, taking in her lax posture like she has all the time in the world. Hands spread out and smirking delightedly. Pretty but shiny dark hair is pulled back in a sleek ponytail, dark brown eyes focusing on herself.

She feels herself tinging red, her ears perking up underneath Aline’s warm gaze.

Even after exchanging numbers and a series of texts to late night calls for the past few weeks, Helen does not know if she’ll ever be used to Aline’s easy candor.

“I admire you” stills rings from their first meeting and interaction, taking a piece of Aline with her ever since.

Aline is everywhere and she does not know how to deal with it. With her. It’s frightening and exhilarating and she clamps down on these feeling furiously.

“If Shadowhunters ever learned to relax, the world would be alienated,” Helen jests, her fingers tracing the book in slow strokes.

“Oh, the horror,” Aline says, dissolving into bright laughter.

This is precisely why she likes Helen. Their easy banter is a comfort and she seeks solace. Helen makes her laugh and it’s something she desperately want to hold onto and never let go.

Helen feels a warmth settling inside of her, glowing vividly. I made Aline laugh, she thinks, biting back a big smile.

“But seriously, what are you up to?” Aline asks, her hands teasing the edge of Helen’s book.

She takes in Helen’s pretty features and hair, her slightly confused expression. Oh Raziel, she thinks. Oh.

“Research,” Helen blurts out.

“Research, huh?” Aline says. “What kind of research? Please tell me it’s the fun kind of research.”

Helen eyes widen and she quickly shakes her head.

She’s precious, Aline thinks, absolutely delighted by her shyness.

“No?” Aline says. “That’s rather disappointing. But then again, Shadowhunters are known for their lovely repression.”

Helen blinks once, feeling shellshocked. She comes from a rather big family with many siblings she looks after and she knows she be used to open bluntness, but Aline is quite literally unlike anyone she has met before.

Aline is fearless and honest and it’s makes the warmth inside of her tingle.

Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, she leans forward and pushes the heavy book towards Aline.

“A new type of demon has sprung in the area and I am looking to see if I will be able to identify the creature,” Helen says. “At the moment, nothing substainable is appearing.”

“You know what they say? Two heads are better than one,” Aline murmurs, her eyes scanning the page Helen is currently on.

A brief silence settles upon them before abruptly ending when Aline speaks up. “You’re not going to find it in this book or even this library. We’ll have to request an information transfer from another institute. Alicante doesn’t have all the answers, surprise, surprise to no one.”

“Everything is currently backlogged,” Helen says. “The amount of chaos appearing in various areas especially in New York, it’ll be ages before the information transfer request kicks in.”

“You’re forgetting something,” Aline says, leaning forward to peer in Helen’s eyes. It’s a close intimacy, if she were to think about it. Of course, she isn’t, this is pure research after all.

“What?” Helen asks.

“I’m the Consul’s daughter after all. I will make it happen,” Aline says, “especially considering it’s likely tied to current chaos in New York.”

“Oh?” Helen says, unable to comprehend the fact she forgot this very detail.

It always happens in Aline’s presence lately.

Aline smirks. “Yes, oh.”

She closes the book with a slam and slides the material down the table. Aline stands up and gestures to Helen.

“Come on, Blackthorn. Let’s get out of here and you know - fulfill that request. We are ‘researching’ after all.”

If it’s the last thing Aline does, she’ll teach Helen how to enjoy herself and By The Angel, what a way it would be to go.

She makes her way around the table, inches close to Helen. Her eyes glance down at Helen’s lips before looking back into her pretty eyes, hands extended to her.

“Come on,” she says as Helen rises, taking her hand.

In a span of less than thirty seconds, Helen whirls Aline around, pressing her against the bookcase. It’s an uncomfortable position but in the midst of candle light and the close intensity between them, Aline can’t think of anything better to be.

Helen is looking at her fervently and she thinks, oh, this is it.

Her lips descend upon Aline’s and it’s everything she hoped it would be.

A quick press of their lips, oh, so gentle, before Aline’s buries her hands in Helen’s hair, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss.

It’s not hurried but passionate, lost in each other. Not all-consuming but sweet, weeks of longing exploding.

It’s everything.

Oh, this is it indeed, Aline thinks, pulling back from the kiss, alight and floating on air.

“How about that, Penhallow?” Helen teases, their faces still so close.

“Why don’t you give that another try?” Aline says as Helen kisses her yet again.

It really is everything.


End file.
